Mission UPSC 2019: A General Preparation Plan for IAS Exam/How to prepare for UPSC 2018?

Now that every aspirant knows the date of the IAS prelims exam for UPSC 2019 (02.06.2019) it is time to start gearing up for the exam.

To enhance UPSC Exam Preparation of the aspirants, here we bring a general preparation plan, which will come handy for candidates who are willing to take the UPSC 2018 IAS Prelims Exam or in the coming years.

Generally, it is advised to candidates to start their preparation a-year ahead and now is the right time to start your preparation for UPSC 2019. Below given is a general time period from when a candidate can start his/her preparation and proceed for a year long.

Generally, prelims exam is held between the month of June and August and the commission releases the exam date prior a year from the commencement of the Civil Services Examination so that candidates get enough time to prepare for both prelims and mains exam.

From current Year till January of next year – Prepare for both Prelims and Mains

If you have already started your preparation or yet to start then make sure that by January of 2019 you have prepared for both IAS Prelims and Mains or at least ensure that you finish the Mains subjects that overlap with prelims syllabus
Here are a few areas of the UPSC Civil Services Mains Syllabus that overlap with the prelims exam:

• Subjects of the General Studies Paper I of the Mains that overlap with the IAS prelims exam are History, Art and Culture, Modern History, Geography.
• GS Paper II Mains Subjects that overlap with the prelims are Polity, government schemes, and International Relations.
• GS Paper III Mains Subjects that overlap with the prelims syllabus are Economics, Science, environment, and etc.

If candidates cover these UPSC Mains Syllabus Subjects abreast while preparing for Prelims Exam by January 2019 then they will be covering almost 70% of the UPSC Prelims and Mains Syllabus.
And the remaining 30% of the Prelims Syllabus should be covered in the following months till the exam date.

View the complete UPSC Syllabus.

February to May – Focus only on Prelims

Once candidates’ have prepared for both prelims and mains till Jan 2019, they should focus only on prelims from February to May (take it as a revision and prioritize current affairs as the subject is dynamic unlike other subjects).

Immediately after prelims – start UPSC Mains Exam preparation with answer writing practice

Considering, you have written the IAS prelims Exam 2019 and instead of thinking about your result, it is advised to proceed with your preparation. After prelims exam candidates should start right away with answer writing practice for UPSC Mains 2019.

Most of the beginners don’t know how crucial is the answer writing practice for mains and most of them who know its importance tend to procrastinate.

The UPSC Mains Exam, unlike prelims, is of a descriptive type where candidates should write answers for each question of about 150-300 words. Hence, the civil services mains exam requires lots of answer writing practice, which candidates can achieve only by:

• Practicing answer writing every day
• Taking regular tests along with preparing notes
• Mind mapping (candidates can refer our Info graphics)

The UPSC has left many areas untouched in the syllabus from which questions have been not yet asked, considering this, candidates’ should not neglect these topics and should make notes (for 150-300 Words) on each and every topic mentioned in the UPSC Syllabus.

For Answer Writing Practice Questions, candidates’ can refer our Comprehensive News Analysis, which has practice questions at the end of the news analysis and categorized into four GS papers of the mains exam.

Answer writing Practice will also help candidates for Essay Paper of the Mains. The Essay Paper of the UPSC Mains Exam consists of two sections A and B and each section have four topics. The topics under ‘A’ section are generally based on Philosophical or general quotes, while the other section has topics related to ‘administration.
For Essay Paper, candidates should choose one topic from each section and write about the topic between 1000 and 1200 words within the given duration of three hours.

Current Affairs Preparation for UPSC Mains Exam

The questions on current affairs for the UPSC Mains exam are mostly related to the current issues that made the news between June-July-August and this is the crucial period but most of the aspirants’ stop reading the newspaper especially after the prelims exam that is during this time. Hence, it is advised to candidates to give importance to issues in news during this period.

This is just a general preparation plan, which every IAS Aspirant can follow to prepare effectively for the UPSC Civil Services Exam.

We wish all the best for those candidates who have been qualified for the UPSC Mains Exam 2018 and well in advance to all those aspirants who are preparing for UPSC 2019 Civil Services Exam.

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